Various types of booth seating systems are presently commercially available and are in the prior art. These booth seating systems are presently used in fast-food outlets which are usually associated with a parent organization having outlets nationwide. In these types of nationwide food outlets, the basic construction of the outlet is the same and so it is designed to have booth seating systems that are the same throughout the country. These types of seating systems are also used in local restaurants and fast-food outlets. Typical prior art patents which disclose a cantilevered table in combination with a booth are U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,903,954; 2,478,118; 2,509,332; 3,574,394; 3,847,424; 3,847,431 and 4,023,859. Of particular interest are the Neilson U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,847,424 and 3,847,431 and the Hagenson U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,859 concerning the basic frame and table supporting structure. Similar seating units are presently in use and commercially available for both inside and outside seating units for both single-sided and double-sided seating.
To my knowledge, most of the present commercially available booth seating systems are not constructed in modular form to be readily shipped and therefore must be assembled in a more or less custom basis at the point of installation of the booth systems through the utilization of installation contractor labor. The installation of such prior art booth systems is essentially custom fitted to the particular area available for the seating system. Generally, these prior art booth seating systems are fixed in length, and nonadjustable, and must be adapted on site to properly fit into the alotted area in the structure in which it is installed. There is presently commercially available a booth seating system that provides booth length adjustability through the use of telescoping structural elements for the booth system. These types of adjustable systems have been found to be inherently unstable since they allow the table secured thereto to "droop" due to improper placement of fasteners and the inherently loose fit up of telescopic tubes which permits lateral and rotational movement of the telescoped structural elements.
It is advantageous to define the basic elements of the booth seating system not only in modular form but also stackable for economy in handling and shipping. Stackable tables and seating elements are known in the prior art and are exemplified by the following prior art patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,362,426; 2,842,412; 2,871,073; and 3,326,148. These patents disclose structures that are provided with offset legs to render them stackable. As applied to a simple table having offset legs, the Jakobsen U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,148 is of particular interest.